The Conscription of the Arts
Artists and designers played a central role in the Cold War battle of images. Their work was conscripted for propaganda, and their actions and opinions prized.
In the late 1940s the formation of one-party states under communist rule, and the imposition of Socialist Realism throughout the Eastern Bloc, disappointed hopes for the freedom of the modern artist or the designer in the East. Only in socialist Yugoslavia, where Moscow's influence was quickly rejected, could modernism flourish.
In western Europe, abstract art and functionalist design were often aligned with progressive ideals and a new moral purpose, particularly in the new state of West Germany.
Socialist Realism in the Eastern Bloc
Socialist Realism was established as the compulsory artistic creed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Works had to display clearly defined political content and a heroic style, and artists and architects were prohibited from exploring abstraction or other qualities deemed 'formalist'. The style was imposed on the newly formed Eastern Bloc in the late 1940s.
The Politics of Peace
Although peace was a genuine ideal shared by many, it was the subject of considerable Cold War controversy. Soviet politicians put peace at the heart of their rhetoric, despite their aggressive grip on Eastern European societies. Nevertheless, many artists and designers - in the East and West - lent their creativity to the cause of peace.
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